


And I promised I’d be there

by palateens



Series: Grand Larsony [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, M/M, Mentions of alcohol, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 02:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10504839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/pseuds/palateens
Summary: Dating Lardo meant their relationship had evolved. It meant remembering who Holster was around her and vice versa. It’s retracing their steps through years of promises and maybes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Ransom Week
> 
> Prompt: Pressure and "Each morning I wake up..."

It’s five am, just like every other day. Justin groans as his phone buzzes on the nightstand. He feels someone reach over him, turning the alarm off. He rolls toward the middle of the bed, body connecting with Larissa. She chuckles, bending over to kiss his temple.

“Five more minutes,” Ransom protests.

“Babe, c’mon,” Holster yawns on the other side of the bed. “It’s time to get up.”

“Hey,” Lardo intervenes, “how ‘bout I run with you today? Give Justin twenty minutes to sleep in.”

“Please, Holtzy,” he whines into his pillow. 

He feels the bed creak and shift. His footfalls sound like a cat on the prowl — decisive, regal, and perpetually exhausted. Ransom smiles into the kiss Holster plants on him.

“Monday,” Adam counters.

 “After my exam,” Justin bargains. 

“That’s tonight.” The frown is so obvious in his tone. Holster leans over to kiss him nevertheless. “I’ll be halfway to Vancouver.”

“Exactly,” Larissa answers for him.

Ransom hears a half-hearted groan. But clearly, his pleas were heard since Holster declares, “c’mon, Lar, you can hop on my back.”

Lardo snorts, “fuck that, I’m gonna run circles around you.”

Justin drifts back to sleep as hears ruckus in the closet. He mentally laughs when he hears Lardo shriek and giggle. Holster had instigated a tickle war two days ago and it was still going strong.

Larissa’s been here for a month. A lot has changed since then. They talked, actually talked this time. They worked through expectations and hopes and logistics. They relearned what it meant to be with more than one person, and how to stave off jealously. The fragments of what they once were mended a little with each passing day. 

Dating Lardo meant their relationship had evolved. It meant remembering who Holster was around her and vice versa. It’s being reminded of the movies they loved together and the shows they didn’t finish. It’s retracing their steps through years of promises and maybes. It’s feeling like he’s in a dream. Because the parts of him he forgot about were being brushed off and polished. Even stranger, he was remembering these insignificant moments from their past. The river of his mind trickled back to things that made sense now: gazes that lasted too long, kisses that should’ve gone uninterrupted, ‘I love you’s that were practiced more than said. They weren’t the same people. But they were something to each other before, and here they are, back at the start. 

He wakes up to the smell of fried bacon. Slowly, Justin gets up, stretching his neck and arms as he rises.  Electing to dress after getting some breakfast, he trudges into the kitchen. He finds Lardo frying eggs and bacon while Holster watches from his perch on the island.

“Gross, dude,” Ransom chastises him. “We eat there.”

“You know there’s a table right there,” Lardo whips around, pointing at the dining table.

“Pshh, using a table for its intended use,” Holster chortles.

Justin eyes the counter wearily. “I’m not eating where your butt’s currently planted.”

“Excuse you sir, I just washed this butt,” Adam sniffs with mock disdain. 

“You weren’t complaining about that butt last night,” Larissa chirps.

Adam cups his hands around his mouth shouting, “ohhhhh.”

Justin rolls his eyes good naturedly, “so dining room?”

“Yep,” Lardo conquers. “Help me with the plates?”

“Of course,” he bends over to peck her lips.

“Hey,” Holster pouts.

Ransom chuckles, turning to Holster who pulls him in by the hips. They kiss lazily.

“Morning,” Adam murmurs.

Justin smiles into another kiss.“You set for your roadie?”

“Do I have to go?” Holster grimaces. 

“You could always let Lards take your place,” Ransom shrugs nonchalantly. 

“Oh yea,” Lardo puts down her spatula to strike a body building pose. “I’d be a demon out there.”

 “You have gotten better at skating,” Holster concedes.

“I know,” she smirks. “Can’t you tell with my amazing hockey butt?”

Ransom looks at Holster, who’s waggling his eye brows conspiratorially. Holster hops off the counter. He stands on one side of Larissa while Ransom goes to the other. She looks between them with a confused frown.

Then a scowl snaps on her face. “Don’t you dare,” she warns.

Neither of them heed her, however, as they literally sweep her off her feet. Placing her on their shoulders, they kiss her thighs as she hides her face in her hands.

“Can’t believe I signed up for this,” she groans.

“Fuck yea you did,” Holster chirps. 

“Ok, you’ve had your fun,” Lardo concedes. “But someone’s catching me, pick, _now_.”

“Allow me,” Justin offers. Holster steps back, allowing Lardo to fall into Ransom’s arms.

Her legs wrap around his waist. She’s smiling like she forgot where she was for a moment, and there he was. Sometimes, Justin thinks they’re on the same page —dancing around each other waiting to wake up from a good dream. As if good things don’t happen to people like them. 

“Hey Adam,” Larissa murmurs, eyes fixed hungrily on Justin. 

“Yeah?” 

“What time are you leaving?”

“Three,” he answers without missing a beat. 

She addresses Ransom then. “And your exam is over at...?”

“Two,” he licks his lips. 

“Just enough time to have some fun,” she notes. Larissa wraps herself tighter around his waist, “if you’re both up for it?”

He feels Holster’s lips ghost his ear, “I think I can work that into my schedule

“I am so in,” Justin rasps. 

This is what he signed up for, he thinks. They’re schedules are fucked, and they’re in different places of their careers. But it doesn’t matter. They’ve got each other’s backs. Someday, they’ll be able to call the shots. For now, they’ve got mornings like this to keep them going. 

_/.\\_ 

The next day, Ransom comes back ready to make dinner. He unlocks the door and is hit with a wall of spices billowing. He walks in to find Larissa slumped against the couch. Suit still on, feet propped on the coffee table as she furiously draws in her sketchbook.

“Hey,” he calls out. 

She looks away from her book. Her scowl softens, “hey.” 

“How was the interview?”

She shrugs, “well, y’know.”

Ransom’s lips twitch the slightest bit, “no that’s why I’m asking.”

“Dinner’s almost ready,” she tries to distract him. “It’s Cá Ri Gá.”

Justin nods, slipping his shoes off before throwing himself onto her lap.

“Get off me, you big creep,” Lardo protests absent minded.

He stares up at her, memorizing the curve of her nose and the way her eyebrows arch when she scowls. The lavender’s faded from her hair since she arrived a few weeks ago. Now it’s the lightest shade of blonde. He thinks she hasn’t re-dyed it for the interviews she’s had this week. But it feels like a part of her is missing, the part that demands everyone’s attention and respect. Ransom reaches up to caress her cheek. She sighs into his touch.

“That bad, huh?” Ransom murmurs.

She licks her lips languidly, deliberating how to answer him. “It was a great interview. It was the best one I’ve ever done.”

“Ok,” there sounds like a but is coming, “and then what?”

“We got to the end, he shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me,” she pauses. “And if the position became available again they’d call me.”

It takes a moment for Ransom to make a connection. “Wait, what?” 

“They already knew who they wanted.” Lardo’s composure crumbles, “I feel like such a fucking idiot. I thought, ‘hey new town I can totally get a job.’”

“You can,” Justin reassures her. 

“Not as a curator,”she huffs in resignation. 

Ransom stares at her, searching for something to tell her. He’d give her the world if he thought that would make things easier. “Ok, so what if you can’t?”

She seems to ponder the idea seriously. She thrums her fingers on his chest while she considers it. “Maybe I could look for a graphic design job? I have a portfolio...It’s pretty up to date. Maybe there’s some ad agency or marketing firm or whatever who’d take me.”

“Is that what you want?” 

She purses her lips, mulling the thought over for a bit. “I want a job that lets me use my degree. I don’t…I never wanted to be a curator. It seemed less shitty when I was in Boston and sculptures were my life.”

Ransom feels his eyebrows furrow. “And now?”

“I sketch? I haven’t had time to buy new paints.” Larissa sighs, amending, “or money, honestly.”

 _That’s ok_ , he thinks but doesn’t dare say out loud. “You think if you do graphic design you could use that to supplement your art?”

Larissa nods with a newfound determination. “Gotta pull my weight around here somehow.”

Justin frowns. Of course, it comes to this. He wasn’t naïve. For as happy as Larissa was here, that didn’t change how her relationship with Shitty crumbled. Even if it wasn’t a handout, she wanted to stand on her own two feet. Even if they didn’t need the money (Holster’s salary alone was more than enough), Larissa deserved to be her own person. She should have her own life and friends outside of the apartment.

“Then you should go for it,” he advises. “You’ll find something.”

“You think?”

The statement doesn’t have the same dry wit he’s used to from Lardo. Her face twists with feigned confidence. She doesn’t believe she can do it. And fuck, Ransom doesn’t know when the Larissa he loved in college was taken down so far that she couldn’t believe in herself anymore. He grabs the hand that’s been tracing his torso, bringing it to his mouth for a reverent kiss.

“I know,” he promises.

She smirks, and some of the doubt falls away. “Wanna see what I’m working on?”

“Always,” he gets out of her lap.

She hands him her sketchbook, opened to the latest page. There’s a drawing of a metal carnation being assembled by cable hands. Pieces of metal are being placed on the stem, with a few pieces lying in wait.

“Wow,” his voice is small and awed. He thinks briefly that if he could whistle, he would. “How’d you come up with this?”

“There isn’t a lot of greenery around here,” she points to the windows behind them. “I was thinking what it would be like to not have plants at all. Where would we find beauty?”

He nods, following along. “And then hands?”

“We’re the sum of our parts,” she gets this smile that he remembers fondly. It’s that look she had whenever she was working on a particularly good piece. “Technology is a part of us. And I guess…that means the metal makes sense because the industrial age was the precursor for now. We came from nature…we’re reconstructing it…”

“We have to rediscover the beauty,” Ransom concludes. 

She leans over, kissing him on the cheek. “Exactly,” she whispers.

“This is amazing,” he hums. “Do what you gotta do. But don’t stop creating things you love. I don’t care if you find a job tomorrow or next year.”

“Well I care,” she argues. 

“I know,” Justin sets the book down; he holds Larissa’s shoulders gently, pressing their foreheads together. “I don’t want you to think you owe us. Get a job. Make sure you can stomach being there for a few years. Don’t compromise your happiness.”

“Ok,” her voice is unsure, but her eyes have something like trust etched into them.

_/.\\_ 

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” Justin asks when they’re in bed that night.

With Holster in Seattle, there’s more space for them. It doesn’t stop Justin from asking Lardo to spoon him, however. He’s staring at the closet doors as he relaxes into the soothing feeling of her fingers tracing his neck.

Larissa props herself up on her elbow, looking down at him with a confused glare. “With what?” 

“Med school,” the words slip from him like a vial curse. 

“You mean whether you should finish or whether you should be a doctor?” She asks carefully.

He thinks momentarily, deciding, “both.” 

She’s silent for a while. Part of him wonders if she’s going to answer. Back when they first met, Lardo wasn’t one for small talk or ‘pointless conversations’. She didn’t like wasting words and time on things that weren’t productive. Which was ok for him back then. There were lots of subjects he was ready and willing to avoid. Most of their ‘restricted topics’ were the same. Sometimes Ransom wonders how much different they are now. If they’ve grown up or just grown differently.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to want to be successful,” she preambles. “You’re smart, and you’d be a fucking ‘swawesome doctor.”

“But…” he adds for her.

“I can’t tell you if that’s what you should do with your life.” Her voice is barely above a whisper but it’s filled with so much warmth and empathy, “that’s up to you babe.”

“So if I quit med school tomorrow…”

“I’d say cool, what next?”

“And if I wanted to finish med school?”

“I’d be proud of you,” she nudges his shoulder. “Like how many people can say they graduated from Johns Hopkins?”

“And if I didn’t become a doctor?”

“You sure are curious tonight,” her amusement ringing in his ears. 

“What can I say?” Ransom shrugs. “I’m a curious guy.”

“I’d probably ask what’s the plan,” Larissa murmurs, running a finger up and down his arm. 

He takes a deep breath. “And if I didn’t have one?”

Because honestly, that was the scariest thought of all. What if he didn’t figure out what to do? What if it didn’t matter if he quit in two days or in a year and a half after graduation? How would he pay back his loans? How would he make a living? How would he find fulfillment in a field that wasn’t presented to him as a child?

“I wouldn’t care?” Lardo interrupts his internal diatribe. “But if you wanted a plan, and you needed help, I’d be there.”

He nods. That’s what he needed to hear. Ransom didn’t know what to do with himself. He was good at being a med student. He could be a great doctor. He was sick of his professional life. Although he knew his capabilities, he had little interested in practicing medicine. It was so dry to him. 

“Justin?”  

He turns slightly to look back at her, “yea?”

She gives him that concerned, all knowing frown she was known for back at Samwell. “No pressure, ok?” 

_/.\\_

“I think this calls for a toast,” Holster announces one night after dinner the next week.

Ransom assumes that this is something serious if Holster’s bringing up alcohol out of nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere. They do have wine they haven’t gotten around to opening that Holtby’s wife, Brandi, had sent home with Holster back in October. 

“What are we toasting, exactly?” Lardo inquires with an amused grin. 

“Awkward family shit,” Holster announces solemnly. 

Lardo nods in acquiescence, “yep that’s definitely a reason to drink.”

Ransom watches her as she grabs wine glasses from the cupboard. Her steps remind him of a fairy. Each one as light as air. But she’s nevertheless deliberate and powerful.  

They make their way to the couch. Holster and Lardo sit on either side of him; Holster pours as Lardo distributes the glasses. Justin’s content to just watch them. He doesn’t know when they turned into adults who savored quiet nights indoors. He hadn’t realized how much he didn’t miss partying until Larissa was complaining about her New York friend’s inability to grow up. They were miles and years away from Samwell. Sometimes, it still ached. But the longer Lardo was here, the more Ransom noticed it wasn’t the placed he missed, but the people. 

Lardo takes a long sip from her glass. “Ok what’s up buttercup?”

Holster commences, “we should figure out holiday plans.”

She takes another sip.“What were you gonna do originally?” 

“I have three days off for Christmas,” Holster elaborates. “So we were gonna stick around here.”

“All Star Weekend’s in Toronto and the Caps’ bye week is in February,” Ransom adds.  “We were gonna see our families then.”

Lardo back and forth at them. “I’m sorry, what’s the question?”

“I guess there’s a few,” Justin concedes. “I guess…do you want to meet our families?”

She blinks for a second, and then two. Justin sees the flicker of realization in her eyes. 

“Oh, you mean like ‘officially’.” She uses air quotes.

“Yea,” Adam’s expression is more neutral then he’s seen in a while. 

“Really?” A small smile graces her lips.

“Of course,” Ransom swears. “But only if you’re cool with that.”

“I’m more than cool,” Lardo insists. 

Ransom smirks. “Are you—”

“Ice cold?” Holster finishes for him. 

“Well when you put it like that—” Holster throws a pillow at Larissa’s face, causing her to yelp.  “Fuck off, of course I do.”

“Really?” Justin asks as Lardo chucks the pillow back at Adam. 

Lardo scoots closer, kissing Ransom’s nose reverently. “Ten bucks says that when we tell my parents they’ll freak, but yea. I love you. And—” she leans over his lap, also kissing Adam on the nose. “I love you too.”

Holster captures her lips. He murmurs, “same, babe,” like an oath. 

Lardo falls back into her spot. “So we’re doing this? Like meet the parents and everything?”

“Yea I think so,” Ransom agrees. “Wait, when exactly are we seeing your folks?”

“Well I was thinking—they could come see us in our swanky apartment with a guest room?”

Ransom looks over at Holster for a consensus.

“That could work,” Adam pulls Justin into his lap, teasing him nips along his collar bone. He can hear Larissa chuckling into her glass. 

Justin wonders how different their lives would be if they’d stuck together after Jack broke them apart. He thinks maybe they wouldn’t have wasted as much time pretending that success was a few ticks on a resume. He thinks briefly of Holster getting traded somewhere and just picking up, and starting over. That warmer days and new adventures could lead to amazing things. Maybe he didn’t hate the idea of being a doctor, but Justin had never known what it was like to not have a plan. There was something so beautifully exhilarating about having endless possibilities laying ahead. 

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: if you go to [my Grand Larsony tag on Tumblr](http://abominableobriens.tumblr.com/tagged/grand%20larsony) there's a lot of extra content that isn't getting posted here yet. And feel free to say hi if you're on there. I love talking about these three.


End file.
